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headquarters in new york city. we start with that breaking news. we are awaiting a news conference here in new york city on sex trafficking charges against billionaire financier jeffrey epstein, a man politically connected to two presidents and a host ever other wealthy and powerful people. you can see folks assembling there for that news conference set to start any moment now. we will bring it to you when it starts. officials telling nbc news that epstein was arrested saturday after a joint investigation by the fbi and new york police stemming from incidents spanning from 2002 to 2005. epstein is charged with two counts of sex trafficking for allegedly sexually abusing three minors. i'm joined now by nbc news investigations correspondent tom winter, msnbc legal analyst former federal prosecutor glenn kirschner also with me. wendy murphy is in massachusetts and here with me in the studio former federal prosecutor ann
marie mca voi and msnbc legal analyst danny cevallos. tom, let me start with you. i knew you are on the phone inside the courthouse as we await the start of this news conference. what do we know about the charges? >> that's correct, craig. i'm actually inside the press conference room here at the u.s. attorney's office where we expect this press conference to start probably in about five or ten minutes from now. we expect there is a big white piece of board up there, we expect to have a little bit of a chart that will kind of explain how epstein basically kind of ran this vast network, as federal prosecutors put it. we also expect the fbi assistant director bill sweeney who runs the new york office here and oversaw parts of this investigation to implore people that were a victim if they believe that they are -- were a victim of sexual abuse by jeffrey epstein to contact the
fbi at 1 hn-800-call-fbi and reference this case. there will be a call for additional victims here today, with he expect that hear that they press conference. we expect the u.s. attorney to be joined by bill sweeney. in addition we expect the prosecutors to also be present here today, although it's doubtful they will be speaking. the attorneys who are going to be prosecuting this case, alex ross miller, allison mogue and maureen comey, if people are wondering if there is a relation to the fbi director that's her dad. these are the people who will be prosecuting this case today. in addition to that we expect them to go through really this behavior by epstein that they allege from 2002 to 2005 when they say that that he systematically set up this network of underaged girls to abuse and exploit them and engage in sex acts with them in exchange for money. some of those victims allegedly turned around and recruited other underaged girls. that's what we expect to hear
more about today as well as specifically the new york connection. so, again, the press conference set to get under way in five, ten minutes from the u.s. attorneys office, the southern district of new york here at st. andrew's plaza in downtown manhattan. >> tom, during the course of your reporting we got word that this news conference is probably going to start closer to three or four minutes from now, so we will continue to stay on this picture. danny cevallos, let me bring you in. i knew i have had an too unt to read this indictment. a number of things stand out to me but the top line here appears to be that epstein used his fortune torques quote, create a vast network of underaged victims for him to sexually exploit. when i hear or read the word network that conjures up an image of a number of people involved to help epstein pull this off. is that how you read it? >> absolutely. it's key to understand that language as framing a conspiracy. a conspiracy is key to these new charges. it alleged conduct arguably that
is outside of that original nonprosecution agreement. even though today's charges do put the southern district of new york in some conflict with the southern district of florida, then headed by alexander owe sass joe in 2007 who entered into a nonprosecution agreement with epstein saying essentially that these state charges that he pleaded guilty to, solicitation of prosecution were adequate and that the federal government would stay its hand. no you what we see is really, really fascinating because the government is going to make an argument that this is a new -- essentially a prosecution that falls outside of the original nonprosecution agreement. >> all right. let us listen in now and we'll sort of dissect what we hear after the start of this news conference. >> -- united states attorney for the southern district of new york. today we announced the unsealing of sex trafficking charges against jeffrey epstein. the charges allege that epstein sexually abused young girls by
enticing them to engage in sex acts for money. epstein was arrested this past saturday evening at teeter borrow airport aboard his private jet that had just landed from paris, france. epstein was taken to the metropolitan correctional center in manhattan and later today he will be presented before a magistrate judge pitman and later a conference before district court judge berman. the united states attorney's offers will take the position at that conference that epstein should be detained pending trial. epstein is charged in a two-count indictment. first, conspiracy to commit sex trafficking and, second, the substantive crime of sex trafficking of underaged girls. beginning in at least 2002 and continuing until 2005 epstein is alleged to have abused dozens of
victims by causing them to engage in sex acts with him at his mansion in new york and at his estate in palm beach, florida. the victims all underage girls at the time of the alleged conduct were given hundreds of dollars in cash after each encounter, even by epstein or by one of epstein's employees. the underaged girls were initially recruited to provide epstein with massages and often did so nude or partially nude. these massages became increasingly sexual in nature and would typically include one or more sex acts as specified in the indictment. as alleged, epstein also paid certain victims to recruit additional girls to be similarly abused. this allowed epstein to create an ever expanding web of new victims. this conduct as alleged went on
for years and it involved dozens of young girls, some as young as 14 years old at the time that they were allegedly abused. as alleged, epstein was well aware that many of his victims were minors and not surprisingly, many of the underaged girls that epstein allegedly victimized were particularly vulnerable to exploitation. the alleged behavior shocks the conscience and while the charged conduct is from a number of years ago, it is still profoundly important to the many alleged victims now young women. they deserve their day in court and we are proud to be standing up for them by bringing this indictment. combating sex trafficking and exploitation of children is a priority for this office and for the department of justice, as the sexual abuse of a minor can
have devastating effects on victims, often lasting for years. that is why my office will not rest until perpetrators of these types of crimes are brought to justice, victims' voices, including the many voices of epstein's alleged victims, must be heard. to that end, i want to say to anyone who is watching this or hearing about our prosecution, if you believe you are a victim of this man, jeffrey epstein, or you have evidence or information relating to the conduct alleged in the indictment unsealed today, we want to hear from you. please call 1-800-call-fbi. that's 1-800-call-fbi.
the charges unsealed today reflect the hard work not only of this office, but by our law enforcement partners at the federal bureau of investigation. to my left is bill sweeney, the assistant director in charge of the new york field office of the fbi and i wish to thank him and his team for their dedication and professionalism in seeing this investigation through. i also want to thank the new york city police department, represented here today by chief jason wilcox and customs and border patrol for their assistance in this investigation. and i want to thank and acknowledge the career prosecutors of my office handling the investigation and prosecution of this case, to my right alex ross miller, allison mo, maureen comey and their supervisors in the public corruption unit, russell capone and edward discant.
it is a privilege for me every day to work with these bright, talented and dedicated public servants. the talent is unbelievable. we will continue to devos significant resources to investigating these crimes and to protecting young people from sexual predators. now i would like to invite bill sweeney up to the podium. >> thanks, jeff. good morning. preserving the innocence in children is one of the most important responsibilities we carry as adults. purposely failing children in any way is not an option. yet there are some in society who have chosen to blatantly disregard this responsibility using whatever means they have at their disposal to lure children into a life which they should never have been exposed. as we allege today, jeffrey epstein is one of those people. at approximately 5:30 p.m. on saturday evening we arrested him at teeterboro airport without
incident. epstein has been charged with one count each of sex trafficking and sex trafficking conspiracy. for at least a four-year period covering the entirety of 2002 through 2005 he is alleged to have sexually exploited and abused dozens of minor girls at his homes in new york city and in palm beach, florida. the girls were recruited in a variety of ways, usually by employees of epstein and sometimes by fellow victims. the victims typically received hundreds of dollars in cash. the estimated dozens of victims were as young as 14 years old at time of recruitment. children who provided epstein massages while they were nude or partially nude. children who were asked to engage in direct and indirect sex acts for money. children who were enticed to do all these things at the hands of a man more than or nearly three times their age. those would have been victimized by child sexual predators are
frequently haunted by memories of these crimes well into their adulthood, often for the rest of their lives. they bear the burden of somebody else's criminal behavior. too often adults in our society have turned a blind eye to the type of criminal behavior alleged here. we have seen the excuses. the ignorance of many who didn't even bother to understand that this behavior, this persistent scourge against our society's youth and the blindness to who the real villains are in this type of outrageous crime, the villains are the adult perpetrators not the children. victims of child sex trafficking come from all walks of life. they are our neighbors, students, young adults looking for help, vulnerable foster children, the list goes on and on and on. to the victims who may be listening, or get word of today's charges, the team standing here before you represents fbi special agents, nypd detectives, analysts,
victim specialists, prosecutors who make it their mission to listen to every individual who has been exploited and to advocate for the most vulnerable among us. we are parents, we are community members, we are human beings, but as an fbi special agent and the head of this office i have the privilege to represent and stand among many who make it our mission to put predators behind bars where they belong regardless of the predator's power, wealth or perceived connections. today i'm asking you to take a look at this man. if you were victimized or have information about his alleged illegal behavior. we want to hear from you. whatever age you are now. whatever age you were then. no matter where or when the incident or incidents took place, the number to call is 1-800-call-fib. i'd like to take a moment to speak directly to the victims who will call that number. when you call that number you
will be asked whether this represents a major case in the country, the answer is yes, number four, you will be driven to the top of the list and the jeffrey epstein matter is number one on the major case list in the country when that call that number. your bravery must empower others to speak out about crimes committed against them. it's important to remember there never was nor will there be an excuse for this kind of behavior. we know that reliving these events can be brutal. we are here to work side-by-side with you as you go through this process. you should know that in the eyes of the fbi, you come first. many thanks as always to our partners from the southern district, our partnership with the nypd on this case and so many others has been phenomenal. thank you also to the professionals at cbp and the port authority police department who helped us with the arrest on saturday evening. last but not least i want to
extend my thanks to the nypd child ex-employee station and human trafficking task force. to be on this task force you must volunteer. the work is agonizing, but it is one of the most noble missions our agencies can engage in and we engage in it together. thank you. >> okay. we are going to take some questions, but first let me preface it by saying that there has been a lot of speculation in the media about individuals affiliated or associated with the defendant, jeffrey epstein. as you know, justice department guidelines prohibit us from talking about such individuals and so i just want to let you know that if that question comes up about any individual, my answer will be no comment and that will be across the board. no comment. i urge you not to read anything into that one way or the other. are there any questions? >> could you give us any insight into why these charges are not
covered by the immunity agreement that epstein [ inaudible ] with the u.s. attorney in florida several years ago. >> yes, jeffrey epstein entered into a nonprosecution agreement with the southern district of florida. that agreement only binds -- by its terms only binds the southern district of florida, the southern district of new york is not bound by that agreement and is not a signatory to that agreement. >> why is it being handled by the public corruption unit if it's just sex trafficking charges at the moment? >> i'm not getting into the staffing decisions can he u.s. attorneys office. the public corruption unit can ably handle this investigation, prosecution as it has so many other matters. i will, again, urge you not to read into the unit assignment anything one way or another with respect to the investigation. >> look at the evidence, how confident are you that jeffrey epstein is going to spend the next several decades of his life
behind bars? >> look, i'm not going to comment right now on the evidence. i will say that we are going to request detention pending the trial in this case. >> i was just wondering reading this indictment as someone has already asked, one of the alleged activities were on the department of justice radar in 2008 when alexandria owe cass joe broke her state plea bargain. why is there not the robust participation of doj at the time and is there new information or new evidence? >> i'm not going into any dealings with the main justice nor am i going to go into any aspects of how our investigation originated. i will say that we were assisted from some excellent investigative journalism. >> i just wanted to ask you the fbi tried to [ inaudible ] the first time, how important was it to get back at this to try to
recharge and given everything that transpired? >> i wouldn't comment on getting back at anybody or anything, that's not the way we work. we work with facts. when the facts presented themselves as mr. berman hinted at through investigative journalist work, we moved on it. >> you used the expression willful [ inaudible ] is any of that directed at the government or investigators who handled this the first time around? >> no, i'm talking about society in a whole. we have seen sex trafficking cases all over the place, it's a busy task force and my opinion is often in society we ignore it and ignore the vulnerable victims. >> on saturday night you guys executed a search warrant and there were cameras that show your agents there. what did you find? >> yes, contemporaneous with the arrest of epstein at teeterboro airport agents executed a search warrant on his mansion in new york city and recovered and
seized -- and that was a search pursuant to a valid warrant -- agents seized evidence, including nude photographs of what appeared to be underaged girls. >> yes. >> [ inaudible question ] >> i'm sorry, what was that? >>. [ inaudible question ] >> no comment. >> the decision to arrest him on saturday, did something concern you that you needed to move in on saturday? >> he flew into the jurisdiction and so we arrested him. >> is there any overlap between the victims stated in the nonprosecution agreement or in the investigative journalism? >> i have no comment with respect to the alleged victims. >> multiple homes, multiple aircraft [ inaudible ]. >> we think he is a significant flight risk and that is why we are seeking detention pending
trial. he has enormous wealth. the charges are very serious and they carry with them a maximum sentence of 45 years in jail, which to someone of epstein's age is basically a life sentence. so we think he has every incentive to try to flee the jurisdiction. when you have two planes and you live much of the year abroad, you know, we think that's a very real risk. >> is epstein a billionaire? >> no comment. >> you referred to some of them as particularly vulnerable. why is that? >> i can't go into the specifics with respect to any particular victim. >> in the indictment there are three employees, why weren't they charged [ inaudible ] -- or why you chose [ inaudible ]. >> no comment. >> this is obviously a massive investigation. how do you compare this to other sex trafficking cases you have prosecuted in the past? >> well, it's extremely significant because of the number of years and the number of victims.
there are dozens of victims as alleged in the indictment in new york and dozens in florida, and it maintained itself over several years. so this is very significant. our office has handled this year, in fact, many significant sex trafficking cases and this is one of them. >> why did he find these women and how was he luring them to his mansion or his house? >> well, as alleged in the indictment, you know, these individuals -- the underaged girls were sometimes recruited by current victims and the current victims were given cash payments if they could bring other underaged girls to be similarly abused, and that's how he continued to expand the number of new victims that he had and that's how he was able to maintain itself over several years. >> online?
>> the indictment indicates that there were phone calls and contacts made not only with mr. epstein, but his employees, between his employees and the alleged victims. [ inaudible question ] >> no comment. >> why is the case coming back now? the charges all happening between 2002 and 2005? >> well, it's still a very important case and it means a great deal to the alleged victims here that they have their day in court and we want to ensure that they have their day in court by bringing these charg charges. >> was it the "miami herald" article that might have bring forward new victims than you were previously aware of? >> we are certainly aware of that reporting. >> thank you.
>> and there you have it, jeffrey berman, u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york. the news conference there laying out parts of the case at least, claiming that jeffrey epstein, the billionaire, philanthropist, hedge fund manager for several years was operating a sex trafficking ring that included dozens of victims. we also found out they are going to be asking for -- they're going to be asking that epstein remain in jail until his trial noting that he has at least two private planes and spends the better part of the year abroad. they believe that because the maximum sentence here is somewhere in the neighborhood of 45 years, that is enough of a reason for him to flee. so he will be -- if the government has their way he will remain in jail until the trial starts. they also asked other victims to come forward as well. a number of times showing that phone number for other folks to
come forward if you believe they might have also been sexually assaulted by jeffrey epstein. we also found out, danny cevallos, and ms. mca voi here, ann marie, that during the course of that raid on saturday of his new york city town house they found what appeared to be according to the u.s. attorney there what appeared to be nude pictures of other young girls. danny, you commented on and this is something that has gotten a fair amount of attention on social media as well, the jurisdiction here. this appears to be a case that is going to be investigated not by the unit that would usually investigate these crimes, but the public corruption unit as well. are we reading too much into that? >> no. no. even though you just heard the u.s. attorney tell us don't read too much into that, i'm choosing to read too much into it because this is a unit that handles corruption, corruption is normally tied not to private citizens, it's tied to public
officials. that's the essence of our federal corruption laws. you also mentioned the search warrant executed. one of the things that i thought about, i don't know if you thought of this as well, is if there's a search warrant being executed what is the present evidence or contraband they plan to find at the premises because some of these allegations are many, many years old and we got that answer, that they are apparently images, allegedly images of underaged females at the premises. so that might have gone a long way towards creating the probable cause required for that warrant. >> ann marie, we also found out a little bit more about how epstein allegedly recruited these women using victims and employees as well. would those people who worked for jeffrey epstein also be culpable here? >> potentially. absolutely. i think one of the things that i would not -- i certainly would not be surprised to see would be a super seeding indictment in addition to additional indictments against other people. >> for our viewers and listeners
on sirius satellite radio, what does that mean? >> super seeding indictment would mean right now they have relatively simple charges, this he have two counts in the indictment. they can add to it. the charges right now deal with 2002 to 2005. they are asking, pleading for victims to come forward, both the u.s. attorney and the head of the fbi in new york did that. clearly they think already more victims. i suspect that they may believe that the victims may be beyond that time frame. >> got it. >> they may have more recent victims so that may be, then, added in in a new indictment. in addition to that it's clearly a conspiracy they are looking at. there are people who helped him. so they may actually already have people who are cooperating. we don't know what's going on behind the scenes. this was a sealed indictment until today. so it's very possible that some of his employees may already been cooperating against him, but certainly i think there is a good chance we will see additional indictments come out of this for others involved.
>> glenn kirschner a former federal prosecutor, also an nbc news legal analyst. glen, years ago when i was in local news i was interviewing a u.s. attorney and i asked him -- i asked him to characterize the nature of the evidence and he said to me, he said, craig, the feds don't lose and typically when we bring charges back then it was a 90%, 95% success rate. fair to say that's the case here as well? >> you know, craig, i assume this is going to be a fairly strong case. i personally would take exception with the feds don't lose proposition because i think we need to be taking difficult cases not just sure things, but as i was watching u.s. attorney berman, one thing really jumped out at me during his press conference, he said very pointedly victims must be heard, and then the assistant director in charge of the fbi, bill sweeney, went on to urge additional victims to call into the hotline and then he went
further and gave them a little tutorial about which buttons to push once they actually get into the phone system. craig, do you know what i saw that as, i saw that as a direct rebuke of how then u.s. attorney acosta handled the victims in this case because we came to learn that he violated the victims' rights, actually violated the law, the crime victims rights act, by keeping them in the dark and not giving them their voice, not letting them have their say as victims. so i think u.s. attorney berman was sending a pretty powerful message that, no, no, no, when the southern district of new york handles this case, victims will be heard, unlike what then u.s. attorney now labor secretary acosta did back in 2008 in florida. >> wendy murphy is also a former federal prosecutor, you are also a child advocate. i know you have worked with cases like this.
explain to people how something like this could happen because here is a man of great means who was according to the government able to operate this vast network, he was operating a child sex ring for several years. how would someone be able to go about doing this and how common -- how common is this, wendy? >> yeah, i wish i could say that it's not common and that this is a rare case and this is extraordinarily unusual behavior, but that's not true. it happens every day in this country in every state and all walks of life are affected. the thing that i think we heard that's important, though, in terms of understanding how it can happen at this level is to know that jeffrey epstein, like a lot of child sex traffickers, they know how to target kids who are vulnerable. and what do i mean by "vulnerable"? maybe their parents are
separated, they are financially struggling, they are on the streets, they are out of high school, they've got drug or alcohol problems, they don't have the support systems at home, they are not being protected by the state. those are the kids who people like jeffrey epstein target. this he know they're desperate and sometimes a 13-year-old who is desperate for even $10 for something to eat, they are going to listen to one of these recruiters that epstein was using who says, oh, this is a glamorous thing, this guy is very wealthy, you are going to love it. all you have to do is give him a little massage and you are going to make a lot of money. it sounds great to a desperate child. as the indictment suggests, it's not quite that simple, they end up moving very quickly from giving epstein massages to sexual abuse and in a sense they get trapped. they get trapped in the lifestyle. so i think one of the most important things we heard today was this urging of victims to come forward. we are talking about dozens and dozens. that's the language that we
heard. dozens and dozens of victims in new york and dozens and dozens of victims in florida. potentially, you know, 100 different victims are still out there. this indictment alleges only three different victims. we know that there are more out there. and how do you appeal to those kids who are now adults? you say things exactly like what we heard today but you make it clear to them that it doesn't matter if you are in trouble in your life, it doesn't matter if you are homeless and on the streets, it doesn't matter if you are currently struggling from drug abuse. we know that victims of child abuse often end up with substance abuse problems. it doesn't matter who you are in society we want you to come forward, you matter, you are valuable, you are just as important as jeffrey epstein. boy, that gave me chills to hear that cry out for the victims in this case. that's who we are talking about, the most vulnerable people in our country. >> it certainly sounds as if the government knows that there are, in fact, more victims out there.
tom winter is back with us now, tom was inside that news conference, he has made his way outside. so we know that he's going to be in court again later today, tom. we know that the government is going to ask for remand. what else do we know based on what we just heard there? >> reporter: just to tee up from what i left when leaving the press conference it has been a long time since i have heard a u.s. attorney and assistant director of the fbi be that specific. it was a solemn and direct tone, particularly from bill sweeney the assistant director who heads up the new york field office of the fbi here being clear that these allegations and this behavior that jeffrey epstein is alleged to have conducted are not going to be tolerated about i this office or the u.s. attorney here. it shocks the conscience is something that u.s. attorney jeffrey berman said. i think i asked them specifically what they found at that search warrant hit they did
saturday night after jeffrey epstein was arrested. he is arrested at 5:30. shortly thereafter they break into his mansion in manhattan and found photographs of nude underaged girls according to the u.s. attorney, he telling us that at the press conference a few moments ago. i think that's an important development so it depose further to something we've been talking about here on msnbc which is whether or not we have seen the last of charges involving jeffrey epstein and perhaps others. as far as court, craig, what we anticipate to happen first is an initial presentment to a magistrate judge then we will have a bail hour in front of judge berman, that's going to be happening at a 00 pearl straight which is 500 or so yards off to this side and basically what's going to happen there the government is going to say, your honor, he shouldn't get bail, this person poses too much of a danger to the community, he has dozens of victims, he has this,
quote, vast network they referred to in the indictment of individuals he is alleged to have abused or had sexual encounters with all underaged girls and they will present that to the judge and they will ask that he be detained pending trial. that's what we anticipate to happen. we don't have specific timings on that yet, these are fluid things when normally we hear about court hearings it's going to start at 9:30 or 2:00 p.m. on the day when somebody is first presented it's a little bit fluid but we will get that to you as soon as we get that information from the clerk's office. >> tom winter, get inside, get dry here. we also heard jeffrey berman give a nod to, quote, excellent investigative journalism, a nod to our friends at the "miami herald" who broke this case. so we should note here, danny cevallos, and miss mcavoy that jeffrey epstein is a registered sex offender, state of florida. he pled guilty to procuring a person under 18 for prostitution and felony solicitation of prostitution.
will that be used this afternoon when he stands before a judge and presumably his attorneys try to make the case for him to not be remanded until his trial starts? >> they will try. they're going to try everything they can but they're not going to get anywhere with it. those are state charges, very specific. the federal charges were different charges from those and the federal charges as the u.s. attorney in the southern district explained the federal charges down there it was -- there was a nonprosecution agreement that was entered into, it only binds the southern district of florida, it does not bind any other u.s. attorney's office and they clearly have jurisdiction here as a lot of the alleged activity took place in jeffrey epstein's home in new york. so the u.s. attorney's office in new york has jurisdiction so there shouldn't be any issue with proceeding. >> glenn kirschner, let me come back to you here because a lot has been made of jeffrey epstein's connection to president trump, his connection to president clinton, his connection to a number of other
notable wealthy connected powerful people, prince andrew as well. glen, the likelihood that we get some names here, the likelihood that we learn a little bit more about some of the people that may have been involved in all of this. >> craig, i think the likelihood is high that we're going to get significant additional information about other players, perhaps players who were also culpably involved, of course, we don't want to speculate about that, but as you mentioned earlier this case is being prosecuted by the public integrity section not the sex offense unit in the southern district of new york. i'm with danny cevallos, we can't help but take maybe too much away from that and i would use as an analogy when i was a prosecutor in the d.c. office we had the homicide section and the national security and terrorism section. if you had a murder case that
was being handled in the national security and terrorism section, you can bet it wasn't just an ordinary murder case, it was something that had some sort of national security implications. it's impossible to ignore the fact that the southern district of new york, public corruption section, is handling this. i suspect we are going to hear a lot more names and i imagine that there are a lot of people who have been close with and maybe involved in epstein's vast network as it's called in the indictment who are probably very anxious and nervous about this development. >> really quickly here for folks who don't follow this stuff as closely as you guys do, the public corruption unit typically would handle cases involves what? obviously public corruption, but more specifically? >> government officials of some kind, state or federal, those all could apply. that's why to me it's interesting that mr. berman used
the word staffing. don't pay attention to staffing issues as if the doj is a bunch of temps that you move around to different spots to do typing. it's not the way it works. you use a team with a purpose in mind. they're specialized. this is what they do. so, yes, we will choose to read into the staffing as he calls it of the corruption folks as opposed to any other folks in the doj because it is significant. >> got it. danny cevallos, ann marie thank you for being here, glen, always good to have you there and thank you wendy murphy in massachusetts. inept, insecure and incompetent, those are just some of the words used to describe president trump by the british ambassador to the united states in leaked memos. what the british government is now saying about all of it. also turning the page after weeks of criticism for comments that he made about working with segregationists, joe biden says, i'm sorry. will that be enough to blunt the
hit that he has taken in recent polls? >> if any comments i made were taken in a way that people took offense from them, then i am truly sorry for that. r thatoint. but do you take something for your brain. with an ingredient originally discovered in jellyfish, prevagen has been shown in clinical trials to improve short-term memory. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. we run right into these crises, and we do not leave until normalcy is restored. we'd been working for days on a site in a storm devastated area. a family pulled up. it was a mom and her kids. everything they had had been washed away. the only thing that brought any kind of solace was the ability to hand her a device so she could call her family and let them know that she was okay. (vo) there for you when it matters most. join us and get up to $650 when you switch. that's verizon.
the british government has shifted into damage control mode after one of its biggest papers published embarrassing memos sent from its u.s. ambassador to officials at 10 downing street calling president trump, quote, inept, insecure and incompetent. nbc news independently verified the content of those diplomatic cables after they were published. the british government says it's now investigating. i want to bring in nbc's hans nichols at the white house and david ignatius, a columnist who covers foreign affairs for the "washington post" is also with me. hans, what is the administration saying about all of this? >> reporter: after a day of silence yesterday when the president was up at his golf resort the president himself unloaded before he was leaving and listen to what he had to say on the tarmac. >> i would say that the uk and the ambassador has not served the uk well. i can tell you that.
we are not big fans of that man and he has not served the uk well. so i can understand it and i can say things about him, but i won't bother. >> reporter: now, it bears noting that ambassadors do have some pretty good access typically with any administration, right now the president is receiving new ambassadors, giving them their credentials and receiving them in an official way. from the uk side theresa may is saying that she she has full confidence in their ambassador and they are saying that this is, quote, a matter of regret. so it's unclear whether or not there will be an official apology. this is what diplomats do, though, they figure out how to apologize without actually apologizing. so it is a matter of regret is the passive voice, i may use it with you sometime, craig. >> thank you, hans. david, here is the thing, no one is denying that the ambassador said this. do you believe that he was simply caught saying the same kind of thing that diplomats are saying in other countries all over the world about this
president? >> so, craig, i think that's really the most interesting aspect of this story. sir kim darroch the british ambassador was caught because of the leak of his private communications saying the things that embassies around washington have been discussing since donald trump became president. as darroch is supposed to have said in one of these cables, this is a white house where there's no filter, there's no way for an ambassador to predict what president trump will do, often no way to get a clear reading on what u.s. policy is. that's frustrated every embassy i know and in this case the truth about how difficult it is to deal with the trump white house got out. >> david, do we think that there is any risk of a larger impact to our relationship, especially at a time when the british government is in transition? >> whoever leaked these cables
of the british ambassador sir kim darroch wanted either to get him out, but he was on his way out soon anyway. more likely to affect the choice of his successor. people probably didn't want to see another typical whitehall official in place, were hoping to get somebody different. that's my guess. >> david ignatius, thank you, sir. hans nichols, thank you as well. as joe biden apologizes for those comments about segregationists we have some new polling, polling among democrats and a head to head matchup against president trump. up against president trump. for a. there's a better choice. aleve pm. the only one to combine a safe sleep aid and the 12-hour pain-relieving strength of aleve that dares to last into the morning. so you feel refreshed. aleve pm. there's a better choice. (gasp) (singsong) budget meeting! sweet. if you compare last quarter to this quarter... various: mmm. it's no wonder everything seems a little better
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to 2020 now and the to 20nt. joe biden trying to turn the page after apologizing for his remarks about segregationist senators. >> was i wrong to somehow give the impression that i was praising those men who i successfully posed time and again? yes, i was. i regret it. and i'm sorry for any of the pain or misconception they may have caused anybody. >> that apology comes as a new "washington post" abc poll shows him leading the field at 30%. senator sanders 19% followed by the senator from california kamala harris at 13%, elizabeth
warren at 12%. nbc road warriors following the warren and harris campaigns today. alex thompson is a national political correspondent. and olivia maxwell is an analyst. garrett, you have been following the biden campaign as well. what led the former vice president to finally apologize? >> reporter: the vice president told reporters yesterday that he want dodd thed to do this apolo south carolina because you felt if people were offended, that was the audience. and you heard the apology there, was fairly well received in the room. although it bears saying that he had an opportunity to apologize in south carolina two weeks ago when he was there for the fish fry, the democratic convention and the interview with the reverend sharpton and he did not
choose to do so. so i think it is a tacet admission, that this is not an issue that they could blow past, they had to deal with it and now perhaps they can go back it what they want to be talking about this is a more future focused campaign and the things that they want to far target the president for. >> and anita hill, busing, crime bill, now these comments. it seems as if the vice president -- that is not fair. the vice president's position on certain issues of race continue to dog him. is this the last or is this just the latest chapter? >> you mentioned anita hill first. i think that is something that he will have to more sufficiently apologize for. he already said he wished that
he could have done more. but folks there at the time, he was in charge of the committee so he could have done more. he needs to acknowledge that. and i think that these issues will pop up, but he can deal with them as they pop up. you can positi out the issues ad prepare strategies to deal with them. every single candidate in this race will have to do that. kamala harris will have to do that with her record as prosecutor. elizabeth warren will have to do that, cory booker and joe biden will have to do that. and the fact that he took so long to apologize is evidence to me that maybe he isn't the most electable candidate because any democrat needs to win the black vote to win the election. and if he will be waffling back and forth, he will have trouble doing that. so good he apologized, but i think that the issues will keep popping up. >> vaughn, senator harris is in
south carolina today where joe biden made that apology. what is her reaction? i feel like i did see and thatter hthahear her reaction. >> reporter: she just had her first campaign event just down the road and we're following her over to myrtle beach. but i want to let you listen to her directly from yesterday afternoon. she made it very clear that folks shouldn't forget history when looking at this democratic primary. >> i think that he is right to recognize the impact of his words and i applaud him for having the courage to do it. there is still plenty of disagreement between he and i and that remains. which is that part that is a very significant part i believe about that quhwhole era. >> reporter: and kamala harris went on to say that joe biden's affiliation with barack obama isn't enough to constitute him
being the next democratic nominee. i was in marion and talking with women of color here in south carolina. and they were telling me that they thought that the california senator's attacks and questioni questioning of vice president vb's civil rights record was unfair, that it didn't look back to the tattlity e i to the totality of his record. and i was in iowa with senator harris at the end of the last week and talking with quite a few white voters there who said that they appreciated the fact that harris was calling out biden. so you have to talk to one individual are to the next because folks are consistently in the framework that vice president biden may have different points along the way, but you have to look at the totality of his career. >> and alex, i want to come to you. there had been talk of some folks possibly dropping out
already, more than 20 contenders now vying for the democratic nomination. what are you hearing about this idea that over the next few days at least one or two candidates may say no masse? >> it is a guessing game, but there will be a domino to fall and i imagine several dominos to fall. because you are looking at dnc standards for the fall debates that as many as 10 to 12 candidates are not going to hit. so you are going to have several candidates that are kikd off that debate stage and they will have to look. representative eric swalwell cancelled all of his campaign events over the weekend and he is having a press conference at 1:00 p.m. pacific time today. governor hickenlooper of colorado, former governor there, he had his campaign staff all confront him last month and tell him he should withdraw from the race. he dismissed their advice and dismissed all of them too. all of his top staffers have left the campaign and he replaced his campaign manager.
so he is staying that he will stay in, but he only that 13,000 donors out of the 130,000 that you need for the fall debates. so i think as one drops out, you will see a cascade of them. >> what are we hearing about tom steyer? >> all signs point that he will get in. sources close to the campaign -- or close it steyer i should say looks like they have already cut an ad and potentially even going to go on tv as soon as this week. and we'll see though. he has gone very close to this point before and stepped back. this could just be a repeat of the same hamlet act we saw before. >> zerlena, the essence festival over the weekend. michelle obama was there and she was asked about her husband's former vice president. here is what she said. >> what if anything would you like to say about the kamala/by
deb dust up? do you have any thoughts? >> i do not. deb dust up? do you have any thoughts? >> i do not.kamala/bdeb dust up? do you have any thoughts? >> i do not. >> i think these being smart. i think the obamas will stay out of this and let biden run lhis own campaign. they don't want to mess anything up. he was vice president, but also a senator are for many decades. so he has his own record to stay stand on even though he probably only wants to talk about that small piece of eight years when he was working for barack obama as his vice president. i also think that essence festival, it is important that so many candidates showed up in new orleans to speak directly to black women. they came with plans in hand, not just elizabeth warren, but kamala harris and cory booker. mayor pete came talking about black income equality. so it is really important that the democrats running this time around understand the importance of women of color as a voting
force in the future, including this election. and showing up at essence festival demonstrates that you think that that voting bloc matters. not every candidate showed up. joe biden was not there. >> and garrett, she mentioned elizabeth warren. she is expected as i understand to announce fundraising numbers today. are you getting a sense from her campaign about what she has raised in the second quarter? >> reporter: a little bit. she raised in the first quarter only $6 million. something her allies were concerned about. she has a lot of staff. she needs that money. we're starting to seat rest of the top tier report, that number anywhere from roughly $25 million from mayor pete down to $12 million for kamala harris. senator warn needs to be in that range to continue to stay competitive to essentially match what we've seen in the polling. i will say this, whatever number she does report, gets a little bit of an added boo ed boost of
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